I must respectfully disagree with you there (big surprise, eh?) Personally, extreme measures such as the Patriot Act, which compromise the fundamental principles of American freedom, are further proof that this 'administration' (read: regime) has failed miserably in carrying out its fundamental task of safeguarding freedom. Seriously, no planes ever flew into buildings from 92-00, and the commodity price of oil has a nasty tendency to double whenever a Bush is in office. High oil prices often lead to recessions, as oil is the grease of our economy. hehe I've always believed that freedom should be the ultimate readout of a country's success. If you can maintain personal freedoms while keeping stability and the strength of the economy, then that is truly a sign of success. However, this country is 1)pretty unsafe; and 2)economically relatively weak. And seriously, how about the fact that the same people were in charge when saddam and OBL were allowed to thrive in their own parts of the world? It seems insane to me that the members of the current administration and their advisors (like daddy bush) are not held responsible for essentially installing SH and OBL twenty years ago. The same bunch that hides under the rhetoric of lower taxes (No New Taxes!!!) has essentially given the American people a bill for $100bil to fix their own screwups from 20 years ago. The reality is that it was the meddling by cheney, daddy bush (I'll let dubya off the hook here, since he was probably too coked up to know what was going on anyway), reagan, and 'ol Rummy that created these problems that the taxpayers are now being forced to pay to fix. $100bil of new debt is a lot of money. It's odd to me that so many people are totally fine with this substantial cost. The ballpark figure is $25k per American household. That's 2-3 years of college at a state school. This whole unwillingness of the bush regime to address simple, and obviously bizarre inconsistencies such as their role in perpetuating SH and OBL in the early 80's, Haliburton winning contracts in Iraq, and other issues that have arisen is clearly consistent with the arrogant Bush monarchy atittude. (You know, the whole "I can blow coke and drive around drunk and conveniently forget about it when I want something, and now I'm too good to be bothered addressing these issues like HAL"). I mean, it seems more and more obvious to me every day that the whole Bush regime is not only 100% incompetent, but also totally and completely corrupt. Just because Powell can think for himself doesn't make him a bad guy. Quite the opposite. The regime really can't get anything right. Yeah, we went in there and kicked the shit out of a country with no advanced military...congratulations...
A little friction and disagreement in the administration is good. You don't really want or expect everyone to think alike and be lovey-dovey. But I think the rift between Rummy and Colin is getting to the size of the Grand Canyon -- atleast according to the press. Hope its not true.
Hehe. I always enjoy your posts, AAA...especially when humor is attached. KJ Il is a total nutjob all by himself. Probably never even been to Texas... http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthrea...0&highlight=frustration+AND+sexual#post206920
the press is blowing everything out of proportion, just like they always do. Colin gets enough attacks as it is, he is one of the best and brightest in DC, cut him some slack.
If you work from the outside with these federal Departments and Agencies you know that this is not an attack on Colin Powell. Nearly all of the people under him are career bureaucrats that either were hired or were able to survive under the Clinton debacle. They do not necessarily reflect the ideas of the Secretary and with the safeguards the career people have they are very hard to control and even reassign. The Clinton people, especially, when reassigned are hiring lawyers and threatening harassment suits for any kind of reassignment. This is happening across several agencies and the Secretaries are doing the best they can to transform things but many people are getting impatient as with State. This would have been resolved a couple of years ago except the Clinton people have have acted about like the Senate Democrats in obstructing the court nominees.
I am amazed at the outpouring of affection and respect here for Colin Powell. Don't get me wrong. He is a vast improvement over Madeline Albright, his predecessor. Moreover he and his wife can be awfully proud of their son Mike, who is FCC Chairman. I am also aware of the possibility of Rummy and he playing good cop/bad cop, but I don't think that is the case. I tend to think he is a bit out of his depth at State, and thus forced to rely on the career people who tend to be much more multilaterally oriented than Rummy and Defense. For a State Department bureaucrat, life is beautiful if you can get assigned to some big international circle jerk. A big treaty negotiation like arms reduction, Law of the Sea, International Criminal Court or Kyoto Global Warming accord means a continuing position of importance and a possible university job down the road. Getting involved in something like Iraq is even juicier. Sugar plums in the form of investment banking, law firm, consulting or even corporate job are possiblities. Don't ever forget that the real battles in Washington, DC are over turf. The rest of it is much like the trash talking on professional wrestling--good entertainment for the fans but meaningless to the insiders. The ultimate agenda of every department is to expand its reach and thus its resources. That's why it has provewn nearly impossible to cut back on the size of government and why those who do try, like Newt, are treated with such hostility. They are trying to change the laws of nature and that is not appreciated.
Weel, the French at least have a sense of humor, but maybe it's a good idea. US, UK invade France! "From his command centre on Jersey, General Tommy Freaks directs his troops as they go about liberating France from what President George W Bush calls "the tiny, dirty, naughty Chiraqi-Saddamistic crew"." French find funny side in diplomatic row By Philip Delves Broughton (Filed: 29/04/2003) What if America punished President Jacques Chirac as it did Saddam Hussein? Such is the premise of The Monde, a spoof French newspaper that appeared yesterday describing an American invasion of France. From his command centre on Jersey, General Tommy Freaks directs his troops as they go about liberating France from what President George W Bush calls "the tiny, dirty, naughty Chiraqi-Saddamistic crew". Mr Bush, cheered on by Donald Rumsfeld, wants to call it "Operation Big Spanking". But he is dissuaded by Colin Powell, his secretary of state, on the grounds that the name might inflame world opinion. Returning to London after flying a bombing raid on Normandy, Tony Blair is shot down by friendly fire. The spires of Mont Saint Michel are mistaken for a radar station and obliterated. French-hating Monaco joins the alliance of the willing to invade France, with the promise of a "jumpseat" on the Security Council. "Chirac calls for resistance and disappears Pro-American uprising on Left Bank in Paris," says one headline. The Louvre is captured by American troops thinking they have seized the town hall. Kurds set up an autonomous state round the Bastille. The spoof, which appeared at the weekend, is intended to show that despite all the bad blood between America and France over Iraq, France retains its sense of humour. "We just wanted to tease the Americans a bit by pushing their strategy to its logical conclusion," said Mathias Toledano, the spoof's creator. Headline: US, UK land in France: spoof -- Detail Story PARIS: As France wonders how Washington might punish it for opposing the war in Iraq, a spoof Paris newspaper has let its imagination run wild and reported a US-led invasion to topple President Jacques Chirac. The Monde, a satirical take-off on the daily Le Monde and a French-basher's fantasy come true, hit newsstands around France over the weekend with wacky tales of chaos amid a fictitious invasion that echoes the real war just waged in Iraq. "American, British and Monaco forces land in France," the front-page headline screams. "Chirac calls for resistance and disappears ... Pro-American uprising on Left Bank in Paris." Among the 16 pages of reports are some on American troops seizing the Louvre museum, mistaking it for the nearby City Hall, while Kurds proclaim an autonomous state in eastern Paris. According to The Monde, President George W. Bush dubbed the operation "Big Spanking," much to the delight of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but Secretary of State Colin Powell blocked its use out of concern for world reaction. "We just wanted to tease the Americans a bit by pushing their strategy to its logical conclusion," said Mathias Toledano of the Robert Lafont publishing house that produced The Monde. The spoof newspaper lacks the angry and sometimes vindictive edge of many anti-French articles that have appeared in recent months in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in Britain. But it builds on what critics say, especially their charge that Chirac was an objective ally of Iraq's Saddam Hussein. One report on an imagined post-invasion speech by Bush quotes him as saying the invasion's aim was "to liberate France from the tiny, dirty naughty Chiraqi-Saddamistic crew". Powell said last week France would be punished somehow for leading the anti-war camp before the US-led attack on Iraq. At the invasion's start, the paper depicts a groggy and unshaven Chirac delivering a rambling television address to the nation before fleeing to an underground tunnel. "It's our duty to fiercely resist our American friends," he says.